Location: In Connecticut, on the Housatonic River near its mouth at Long Island Sound.

Posts: 11,189

Words in my sleep

I often wake up with a word embedded in my mind — usually with no idea how it got there. I keep a pad near my bed, and usually try to jot them down.

The only thing they really have in common is that they are interesting-looking words, and quite unusual — none of them occurs in my ordinary conversation, that’s for sure.

incarnadine : crimson or pinkish-red. Actually have an idea about this one. One of my favorite mystery writers likes it, and I noticed it in two of his novels over the years. But it had been months since then when it popped into my brain.